Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow bows his head on the sidelines — the gesture that's been enshrined as "tebowing" — after scoring a touchdown against the New York Jets on Nov. 17. With Tebow at the helm, the Broncos have won six in a row.

Barry GutierrezAP

Originally published on December 13, 2011 4:43 am

He's the hottest topic in sports, and now Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is a word, kind of.

The online Global Language Monitor, which professes to track what's hot in the world of words, announced today that is has declared "tebowing, the act of 'taking a knee' in prayerful reflection" during an athletic activity is now "an English language word."

If you're not familiar with Tebow, he's the young, unorthodox QB who doesn't complete that many passes but runs well and certainly seems to be able to inspire his team. Since he was made the Broncos' starter, the team has won seven games and lost just once. Denver did it again on Sunday — though two late-game mishaps by Chicago Bears running back Marion Barber had an awful lot to do with the Broncos' 13-10 overtime win.

Tebow's also known for being very upfront about his strong Christian beliefs and for his exuberant, can-do personality.

Now, according to a statement from GLM's "president and chief word analyst" Paul JJ Payack, the signs of tebowing's rapid rise to common usage are everywhere:

"The ESPN sports broadcasting network has widely championed the word. The tebowing.com website devoted to people posing in the 'tebowing position' has been wildly popular. The New York Times has recently carried an editorial on the subject and the Chinese search engine, Baidu.com, already has hundreds of citations for tebowing."